CDNOW Press Release
Recording studio fires usually aren't viewed as a harbinger of good things, unless,
perhaps, you're a pyromaniac or a member of the Butthole Surfers.
"First week, the studio almost caught fire," recalls Butthole Surfers guitarist Paul Leary
about sessions for the Long Beach Dub Allstars' forthcoming sophomore disc, which he
is producing. "I went into the bathroom and there was a flaming trash can, which gave
me a good feeling because [during] the first week of the Sublime sessions in Texas
they almost burned the studio down."
With the many musical hats Leary has donned over the years, he's probably
encountered a studio fire or 10. He's worked with artists ranging from Reverend Horton
Heat and the Supersuckers to former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. And his
production and mixing work on Sublime's multi-platinum self-titled effort spawned the
modern rock hits "Santeria," "What I Got (Reprise)," and "Wrong Way," forging his
association with bassist Eric Wilson and drummer Bud Gaugh, now members of the
Long Beach Dub Allstars.
In addition to his production duties on the currently-untitled Long Beach Dub Allstars
album (due summer 2001), Leary's recent endeavors have included lending production
to longtime-friends the Meat Puppets' latest album, Golden Lies (the liner notes of
which credit Leary on the wrong songs, he says), and he is hard at work on the Butthole
Surfers' new record, their first for Hollywood Records.
"We spent an entire summer in a practice space, practicing twice a day, seven days a
week," Leary says of the Buttholes' preparation for the new album, which will see the
light of day sometime in 2001. "It was like being a musician again."
Leary estimates the Buttholes have recorded some 14 songs already, and are set to
travel to Los Angeles in January and enter the studio with Hollywood Records
president/producer Rob Cavallo (Goo Goo Dolls, Green Day, Alanis Morissette) to flesh
out some new material.
"There's a couple of songs he wants to see done in a certain way so maybe they'll be
more radio friendly," says Leary of Cavallo. "Of the songs we have recorded, we'll
probably throw some away and add a few more."
Leary claims the sessions for the Long Beach Dub Allstars' second album have
produced no shortage of radio-ready material, thanks in part to singer Opie Ortiz's
run-ins with the law.
"There's several songs that sound radio-ready to me," explains Leary, "A lot of songs
about going to jail. There's a song called 'Lonely End' and one called 'It Ain't Easy' and
another one called 'Rolled Up.' Opie was describing to me this one month where he
had this run of bad luck and went to jail, like, three times, or something. They're
definitely from the heart."
-- Pat Berkery |
